Like many golf enthusiasts, Rich Berberian Jr. will likely spend time watching the U.S. Open telecast next weekend. Last Monday, however, he nearly earned a starting time in the national championship.

In his first attempt at sectional qualifying, the 24-year-old Hoodkroft assistant pro shot 70-69 at New Jersey's Canoe Brook Country Club to finish in a tie for fifth place among 74 competitors vying for one of four available Open berths. The qualifier was one of 11 the U.S. Golf Association staged across the country Monday, with 58 players earning slots in the Open at San Francisco's Olympic Club.

At 3-under par, Berberian's total left him a stroke shy of the number that qualified. Despite playing steadily all day and making birdie on his 35th hole to get to 4 under, the Derry resident bogeyed the last hole, missing a 5-footer for par on the low side.

“I played it right center I think, and it broke a little more, and I think I might have pulled it a little bit,” he said.

In a four-hole playoff, Berberian subsequently earned the qualifier's second alternate slot. But despite his near miss, the PGA Tour hopeful put a positive spin on the day.

“I think I know now that I'm good enough to be out there,” he said. “There were a lot of big names there that I played against and beat. ... One shot isn't a whole lot, so it was gratifying.”

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Learning opportunity: Keene's Chelso Barrett, who was also in the U.S. Open sectional qualifying field at Canoe Brook by virtue of his runner-up finish at the U.S. Junior Amateur last year, finished near the back of the pack with rounds of 85-74 but gained valuable experience paired with Luke List, who's currently the leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour. A Vanderbilt graduate, List shot 73-67 and finished two strokes shy of the total that qualified.

“To play with Luke was just a bonus, because he's an incredible player, and I learned a lot from him,” the 17-year-old Bretwood golfer said last Wednesday at the Golf Club of New England, where he attended an event to promote the 2012 U.S. Junior Amateur, which the Stratham club will host next month.

As the New Hampshire Union Leader reported last Thursday, Barrett has made a verbal commitment to play golf at Division I Texas Christian University once he graduates from Keene High School next year. He made his decision shortly after visiting the Fort Worth campus last November, he said.

“The location was ideal because I didn't want to be in the snow, and the coaching staff was great,” he said. “It fit when I went down there.”

One of TCU's home courses is Fort Worth's Shady Oaks Country Club, Ben Hogan's longtime club. And by becoming a Horned Frog, Barrett would follow in the footsteps of Mike Flynn, the two-time State Amateur champion from Rochester who played for the school in the early 1990s.

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Tri-State on tap: The Women's Tri-State Golf Championship, a match-play tournament pitting a team of 32 Granite State golfers against counterparts from Vermont and Maine, will mark its 60th anniversary with this year's renewal at Mount Washington Resort on June 19-20. The New Hampshire team will include: Andrea Morrell (Derryfield), Louise Billy (Derryfield), Nancy Markey (Waumbek), Paula Ainsworth (Bethlehem), Betsy Knights (Hanover), Tina Dittrich (Stonebridge), Torrie Whitcher (Pheasant Ridge), Rowena Wilks (Country Club of New Hampshire), Sharon Sweet (Campbell's Scottish Highlands), Spruill Kilgore (Portsmouth), Cookie Hood (Waukewan), Jennifer Bragg (Nashua), Linda Brink (Windham), Nancy Lamb (Plausawa Valley), Donna Harvey (Green Meadow), Mary Kaltenbach (Granite Fields), Ellen Musinsky (Stonebridge), Joanne Botos (Campbell's Scottish Highlands), Diana Spring (Duston), Bunny Stoykovich (Stonebridge), Dorene Bergeron (Hoodkroft), Stevie Wallace (Atkinson), Karen Sjogren (Newport), Pat Upham (Beaver Meadow), Jane Cumming (Farmington), Pat Flynn (Windham), Carmyn Young (Angus Lea), Debby Allan (Eastman), Carmen Lesieur (Green Meadow), Nancy Stewart (North Conway), Rita Marchese (Candia Woods) and Pat Cutler (Hoodkroft).

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Through the green: Concord's Mark Stevens (68-69-74) was the low New Hampshire finisher in the Massachusetts Open last Thursday, tying for fourth at Walpole Country Club. ... Abenaqui's Billy Forcier (71) was the low State Amateur qualifier at Nippo Lake last Tuesday. Fifteen players shot 78 or lower to advance to the State Am, schedule for July 9-14 at Concord. ... The NHGA cancelled its Players Championship at Baker Hill last weekend because of inclement weather and will aim to reschedule it for late September, Executive Director Jeremy Sprince said. ... Hoodkroft's Ben Chiampa (74) won the Hoodkroft Amateur Open last Sunday, while clubmate Mike Curley (66) took low net. Division winners were Derryfield's Billy (women's low gross, 73); Hoodkroft's Cutler (women's low net, 63); Derryfield's Danny Arvanitis (senior low gross, 69); Hoodkroft's Ken Conti (senior low net, 67); Nashua's Bill Cahill (super senior low gross, 69); and Whip-Poor-Will's Don Shippey (super senior low net, 62). ... Abenaqui's Dana Harrity (79) won low gross at the NHWGA Division A tournament at Baker Hill last Thursday. Breakfast Hill's Fran Addorisio (69) won low net. At a second Division A event the same day at Montcalm, Hanover's Knights (81) won low gross and Wentworth By The Sea's Pam Schlieper (67) won low net. ... Pease's Christine Downall, Amherst's Cookie Gray and Nashua's Janet Wheelock (87) shared low gross at the NHWGA Division B tournament at Den Brae last Tuesday. Waukewan's Janet Bickford (64) won low net.

Mike Cullity's column on New Hampshire golf appears weekly during the golf season in the New Hampshire Sunday News. E-mail him at mcullity@unionleader.com.